HISTORICAL SOURCES:Identify if Primary or Secondary Sources

P Manunggul jar
S Assessment or commentaries of events, people or institutions of the past
P Memoirs of World War II
P Artifacts/Remains of the past
P Edifices like colonial churches
Farming implements
P Paintings and Murals
P Written or Unwritten piece of evidence

P Works produced after the event has taken place

S Books/textbooks
P Of recent date, photographs, films, and recordings (Audio/Video)
S Monographs
P Documents, Archival Materials, Letters
P Govt. records, Newspapers, Parish records, Court transcripts, Business ledgers
P Clothes, Jewelries
P Essays or chapters in a book

S Articles published in scholarly journals

P Paper read in conferences
P Dissertation paper which offer original analysis
S Articles published in popular magazines
P Tabon Man
P History of the Filipino People by Agoncillo
P A La Juventud Filipina
P Letter to the Women of Malolos by Rizal

OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY SOURCE

The “Yawning” Jarlet of Leta-Leta Cave

This jarlet, declared a National Cultural Treasure, is the earliest pot recovered
in the country. It has a distinct rim that resembles a shouting or yawning
person, hence the name.

Discovered by Dr. Robert Fox in Leta-Leta Cave, northern Palawan in 1965,

this jarlet is associated to the Late Neolithic period (approximately 1000 to
1500 BC). It was excavated in a burial site where a stone adze, as well as
other intact pieces of pottery–including a stem cup and a footed jarlet, both of
which are also declared national cultural treasures–, were recovered.

The Callao Man

In 2007, a group of archaeologists led by Dr. Armand Mijares of U.P. Diliman
discovered a foot bone in Callao Cave in the town of Peñablanca, Cagayan.
The said skeletal remain–specifically the third metatarsal of the foot–is said to
be “the earliest human fossil found in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Based on a method called “uranium-series dating,” it was also revealed that

the foot bone is approximately 67, 000 years old, predating the “Tabon Man”–
long been thought to be the country’s earliest human remains–which is only
50,000 years old.

The Laguna Copper Plate Inscription (LCI)

Accidentally discovered in 1986 near the mouth of Lumbang River, the
Laguna Copper Plate Inscription or LCI is the earliest historical document in
the country and also the only pre-Spanish document discovered so far. Now a
National Cultural Treasure, the LCI measures 7 x 12 inches when unrolled.

In 1990, the National Museum purchased the LCI and sought help from
Antoon Postma, a Dutch national who was then the director of the Mangyan
Assistance and Research Center, to decipher the inscription.
Postma, with the help of Dr. Johan de Casparis, later found out that the LCI
was written in Kavi (Old Javanese writing system) and the language used was
a combination of Old Tagalog, Old Javanese, Old Malay, and Sanskrit.

Even more surprising is the fact that the Philippines’ oldest document was
neither a poem nor a song but a legal document called suddhapattra which, in
today’s context, is a receipt for payment of a debt.

According to Postma’s interpretation, the document was written on the fourth

day of the waning moon of the month of Waisakha in the Shaka year 822
(April 21, 900 CE by the Western calendar). It stated that the debt of gold
amounting to one kati and eight swarna (equivalent to 865 grams) owned by
Namwaran was canceled and the document given to his daughter, Angkatan.

Maitum Anthropomorphic Burial Jar

In 1991, archaeologists from the National Museum excavated several clay
burial jars in Ayub Cave, Pinol, Maitum, Saranggani Province. These Metal
Age (ca. 5 BC to 225 AD) jars depict human beings and feature three types of
heads: Plain, with perforations, and with red (hematite) and black (organic
matter) paints.

The Maitum anthropomorphic burial jars also show different types of facial
expressions, setting them apart from any funeral pottery–including Palawan’s
Manunggul jar–previously recovered in the Philippines.

Among the many anthropomorphic burial jars recovered in Ayub Cave, Jar
No. 21 (see photo above) is the most unique. Aside from being the first
anthropomorphic jar excavated intact, Jar No. 21 is also the only jar depicting
a male sex organ. It also has a navel, two arms, two ears (which seem to be
both right ears), and two nipples. The head is perforated while the lips were
painted with red hematite.

When it was discovered, Jar No. 21 contained a deciduous human tooth,

bone fragments, shells of land snails, and limestone pebbles.
Bolinao Skull
The formidable Bolinao Skull is only one of 67 skulls recovered from the
Balingasay Archaeological Site in Bolinao, Pangasinan. They were found
along with several Early Ming dynasty (1368-1644) ceramics.

The skulls have teeth that are decorated with gold ornaments, a symbol of
wealth and bravery during the prehistoric era.

The Bolinao Skull (shown above) stands out because gold scales were
observed: “on the buccal surfaces of the upper and lower incisors and
canines.” The gold decorations have flat rounded tops that are placed in a
bored hole on the teeth. These gold ornaments overlap one another, making
them look like fish scales.

Source:

https://filipiknow.net/archaeological-discoveries-in-the-philippines/